News clip prompted tip in Kiplyn case

PROVO  Prosecutors showed a news clip during the third day of the Kiplyn Davis murder preliminary hearing  a clip that had prompted one woman to call police, wondering if information she had might help in the investigation.

Jeanine Jeppson testified in 4th District Court Thursday that after watching the news, plus considering her percolating concerns about her then-husband, Christopher Jeppson, she called police in 2001.

She relayed anonymously how Jeppson allegedly told her in 1996 that in May 1995, he had gone up Spanish Fork Canyon with a group of people, including Kiplyn.

He allegedly said there was drinking and messing around, then a disagreement, and somehow Kiplyn got hit in the head.

"He said they all panicked and didn't know what to do," Jeanine Jeppson said. "They didn't know whether she was dead or alive and ... they left."

Jeppson and Timmy Brent Olsen are on trial in 4th District Court for Davis' murder and are in the midst of a hearing after which a judge will rule on whether the case will go to trial. Davis' body has never been found.

Jeanine Jeppson said her then-boyfriend told her that he and his friends, including Kiplyn, had sloughed school that day around noon and didn't come back home until it was dark.

However, defense attorney Scott Williams questioned Jeanine Jeppson about her memory and how her story seems to have developed over the years, with an addition about Christopher Jeppson's alleged confession coming at a serious, intimate time.

He read from Jeanine Jeppson's call to police.

"'The situation I was told this in was actually a light situation, it was told really lightly,"' he read, quoting.

Jeanine Jeppson insisted that after Jeppson told her the story, he tried to backpedal and brush it off.

"Do you recall in the tape-recorded call, saying, 'When I was told this, it was a light situation,?"' Williams asked.

"He was saying (afterward) it was a joke," she replied.

Prosecutors hope to finish their case by Friday, although the hearing is scheduled for eight full days if necessary.